Lots to Show For It!

Watching Grampa on the Ladder
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen's O'Connor grandparents were here for a little more than a week, and the Golby girls have lots to show for it! Grampa worked really hard to get all sorts of projects done for us. I can't even begin to list them all here, because there are just too many. Kathleen was fascinated by Grampa working, and followed him around without fail. Grampa worked on something every single day, and just about everything in our little home works or looks (or works AND looks) better for his having been here. Kathleen's proudly showing off our newly painted bathroom:

Look at our new bathroom!

Gram and Leenie
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

We had a lot of fun with Gram, too. Kathleen was excited not only because Gram and Grampa brought fun new toys (like the extra keyboard and the tunnel and the best bubbles ever), but because there were new people to show her other toys to, too! And because Gram was around and could help distract Kathleen in the store, Mama even managed to try on and buy some new maternity clothes. (And thank goodness, because the next Golby girl seems to be growing a lot, and the maternity clothes from winter in Kentucky just won't cut it here!)

We are so, so grateful for all the help we received from Gram and Grampa. And we're excited that we'll see them again so soon. Before we know it, the Golby girls will be flying to California for even more time with the O'Connors!

Grandparents are Fun!

Fun in a tunnel
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Kathleen's O'Connor grandparents arrived on the island yesterday, and Kathleen has been absolutely thrilled to have them around. She was shy with them as she greeted them at the airport, but the shyness seemed to wear off within the first hour. Kathleen likes to ask her Gram to read to her. She likes to watch Grampa working on his projects and waves whenever he enters the room.

Kathleen has discovered that grandparents are great for gifts -- and that her grandparents have brought some particularly fun new toys. The big favorite so far is the collapsible fabric tunnel. It folds down into a neat little ring, and Kathleen knows what it is whether it's extended or not. If it has been put away, she'll pull it out and ask for help until it's extended across the living room floor. She sits in it, she crawls through it, she tosses the ball in it, she rolls (pushes or kicks) the entire tunnel back and forth across the living room floor. She has even figured out how to make it roll while she's inside it!

Kathleen's not the only one who has been delighted by the O'Connor visit. It's a great big treat for Mommy, too! Last night while Mommy gave Kathleen a bath, the dinner dishes were magically washed and the toys were magically put away on their shelves. There were no chores left by the time Kathleen went to bed. It felt like a spring break vacation! And as if that weren't enough, Grampa has already been hard at work on projects around the house. He painted the spare bathroom today. It looks beautiful! The Golby girls are very lucky, indeed!

Before and After...

Kathleen ate her dinner with a lot of enthusiasm tonight. It wasn't my best performance as a cook (honestly, you can hardly call it cooking), and it wasn't the most nutritionally balanced meal, either. But Kathleen didn't seem to mind. She started off with some carrots, which she largely gnawed on, rather than ate. Next she ate some pita bread and sun-dried tomato hummus. (I'd just made the hummus and Kathleen apparently appreciated the home-made effort.) After that she ate an astonishing amount of spiral pasta with a spicy marinara sauce, some sliced apple, and a few bites of Mama's spinach salad. I find it interesting that she picked around the chopped spinach I'd tried to hide in her pasta, but pleaded for the spinach from my plate. Go figure!

Anyway, after that enormous meal, Kathleen looked like this:

Obviously, we were in pretty desperate need of a bath. Fortunately, bathtime is one of Kathleen's favorite times of day. She slides around in the bathwater like a little fish! She'll recline, she'll lie on her tummy, she'll turn every which way -- splashing the whole time. She has a little boat with some fish and a fishing pole and some little cups, and those toys amuse her every evening. Kathleen particularly likes to fill the cups from the faucet and watch the water drain out the holes in the bottom. She understands that a bath is for getting clean, though, and if you give her a little bit of soap in the palm of her hand, she'll rub her hands together to get clean! Fortunately, Mama's got a washcloth and a slightly more developed sense of what might need some scrubbing, so by the end of the bath, Kathleen looks a little more like this:

That's much better!

First Glimpse at the Next Golby

Yesterday we got our first glimpse at the next Golby, thanks to the wonders of ultrasound. The ultrasound technician assured me that everything looks great. She counted fingers and toes and measured more organs than I can remember. The baby's growth is right on track, so there was no need to adjust the due date. August 27th it is! The baby was most uncooperative during the exam and tried its best to hide. . . Fortunately, we managed to find everything we needed to with only a modicum of nudging and squirming and other encouragement.

The ultrasound technician, unlike the baby, was a good sport and sealed up the ultrasound picture revealing the gender so that I could wait to open it until Jim called. We wanted to be able to find out that big news together. The photograph was concealed in some gauze, which was stapled, and then paper towels were stapled around that. Apparently there weren't envelopes lying around the antepartum diagnostic clinic! While it sounds a little sketchy, the device served its purpose well, completely resisting my attempts to peek before Jim called.

I've had very mixed intuitions about this baby. For a while I've thought it must be a boy, because this pregnancy has been so different from Kathleen's. First of all, this pregnancy has been blessedly complication-free. Also, I don't remember being sick with Kathleen, and I had some definite morning sickness this time around. Moreover, this time I have had an otherwise unexplainable craving for pickles. In fact, I have eaten so many pickles that I have been reduced to buying the mini kosher dills at Costco, because regular jars from the commissary simply don't last long enough. I know, I'm a walking pregnancy cliche.

On the other hand, I've had a conflicting theory that this baby must be a girl. Before Kathleen was ever born, Jim would tell people about our family plan: five boys in four years, so they could all play on the same basketball team. But for those of you that don't know, Jim has three older sisters. He will tell you that they tormented him in childhood (and that that accounts for his having joined the Army). It has occurred to me that it might be Jim's lot in life to be surrounded by girls. I'm sure that Kathleen and any other girls would, as their teen years approach, be more than willing to continue the torment their aunts began.

It appears that the latter is, in fact, in Jim's future. We've got a good start to a basketball team -- a girls' basketball team! Our next little Golby girl is already taking after her big sister and waving to her Daddy.

Keeping Up With Kathleen

Keeping up with Kathleen is truly a full-time job! She has boundless energy and grows and changes constantly. She picks up new skills every day, it seems. She's still signing and isn't talking very much. Every now and then she'll repeat quite clearly a word I've said. But when I ask her to repeat it, she'll generally sign it instead of speaking it again. She does, however, babble almost constantly. Her babbling has a distinct inflection to it. It certainly sounds as though she's talking, except that (to her dismay) I can't understand a word of it.

Lately Kathleen has begun to play with her dolls and stuffed animals more, carrying them around, patting them, putting blankets on them, and even feeding them. Here she is feeding her monkey some of her chicken nuggets when we went out to lunch:

Kathleen's very sweet to her little charges, at least for a while. Then -- abruptly -- she'll elect to do something else, unceremoniously dumping the doll on its head as she charges off across the room.

Recently Kathleen has been amusing herself with a box from Costco. She is simply delighted with this toy:

(What a mom! Such expensive, elaborate toys!) She uses it for everything. She puts toys in it. She carries it around the house. She climbs in and out of it. She sits in it to watch Signing Time or to read books or for no reason at all. I've been tempted to take the box down to the trash, because it somehow seems wrong to have an empty box sitting around one's living room, but can't bring myself to get rid of it, because Kathleen enjoys it so much!

Kathleen wants to try everything that I do. For example, she likes to play with my make-up brushes while I get ready in the morning. She asks for lotion and rubs her little hands together. She loves having her hair blown dry. Although she likes to carry around her own little purse, she prefers mine. She wants to taste everything that I eat or drink. (She has thus far been persuaded from getting too near my tea in the morning, and has settled for signing "hot" the entire time I drink it.) She likes to put things in and out of the dishwasher and the laundry. When she's up in the loft, she tries to type on the computer. And a few days ago, while I was practicing a piece for Easter, Kathleen began to sing, too!

While she's quite the little mimic, Kathleen also has distinct ideas about what she will and won't do, about what she likes and what she doesn't. Her food preferences seem to vary by the hour. She will not keep a barrette in her hair, although she finds the barrettes fascinating. She'll put the barrette up next to her hair, but as soon as I snap it into place, she pulls it out. She has discovered the universal toddler trick of going limp, so that I cannot set her down when she wishes to be held. (That only works out the way she'd like sometimes.) When I turned on NPR in the car a few days ago, she quickly made it clear that she'd rather listen to the Signing Time cd. She prefers to sit in chairs by herself:

I have a feeling that this independence is just beginning... It won't be long before Kathleen wants to do everything by herself, I'm sure!

He Is Risen Indeed

I Like Easter
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

Now let the heavens be joyful!
Let earth her song begin!
The world resound in triumph, and all that is therein;
Let all things seen and unseen their notes in gladness blend,
For Christ the Lord hath risen,
Our joy that hath no end.

"The Day of Resurrection," John of Damascus

We had a truly joyful Easter Sunday. The celebrating began at the Easter Vigil at St. Andrew's Cathedral on Saturday night, where friends George and Adeline were baptized. We had the honor of being Adeline's godparents, so the celebration was even more special. Because the Vigil has a tendency to be a little long, and because it's late in the evening, Kathleen had miss that bit of celebrating. She made up for it today, though!

Easter festivities began right away this morning. Kathleen woke and had barely finished her milk when she spied her Easter basket. She was most excited about the new animals for her Noah's ark set, but got pretty excited about the candy, too, once she was allowed to taste it. The other big favorite in the basket -- the Easter grass!

Just after we were finished inspecting the Easter basket, we got a call from Daddy. It was such a blessing to be able to talk to him and share our Easter morning with him. Shortly after that, we got Kathleen outfitted in her dress, hat, and matching purse, and we were out the door to church for Easter breakfast and service.

After church and her nap Kathleen had her very first Easter egg hunt in our living room. She was delighted to find the eggs. She was even more delighted to find that the eggs open AND contain candy. She doesn't understand the resurrection, but she definitely understands candy! We shared dinner tonight with friends, and had a lovely evening.

Our day was blessed by an abundance of food and fellowship, but we are most blessed by the day itself and by what our God has done for His people. We are reminded -- more now than ever -- that our joy and our strength is in Him who conquers all things, even death.

Happy Easter for Daddy

Seeing Daddy at the VTC
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

This afternoon we had a VTC (video teleconference) with Daddy. Since it was already Easter morning for him, we decided to make a party of it and wear our Easter dresses! Kathleen brought her empty Easter basket to show him, too.

This afternoon was the most interactive Kathleen's been with Jim during one of our "calls." I think she finally understands that seeing Daddy on the television at his old work is different than seeing Daddy on the television at home. She began waving as soon as she saw him today, and waved a lot during the 15 minutes we got to spend with him. She also blew him a lot of kisses. She'd get extremely excited whenever Daddy would wave back or blow her kisses, too.

Daddy was amused by how busy Kathleen was during the "call." In between her waving and blowing kisses, she ran around the room, toted her Easter basket, looked at a book, demanded some treats, and ran up to the television screen to show Daddy the item of the moment. Most of all, she climbed on and off the sofa and on and off Mama's lap. She really is perpetual motion!

We're blessed to have a unit that offers us the opportunity to use the VTC capability so consistently. While we'd rather spend Easter together, we're thankful that we get to "see" each other this holiday, even for a little while.

We'll Wait However Long It Takes...

This past weekend Kathleen and I got the official word that Jim's unit has been extended in Iraq. They'll be there for an additional 46 days. The news wasn't really a surprise to us -- we've known that an extension was possible, even likely, for a long time now. And we'd heard that it could be anywhere from 45 to 120 days long, so 46 days is really about the best we could hope for. (Not that that stopped us from hoping they wouldn't be extended at all!) It looks like the unit will return home in late September.

The big downside to the extension is that "late September" part. Because we expect the next little Golby to arrive in late August, this extension makes it unlikely that Jim will be here for that baby's big entrance. We're still hoping that Jim will somehow make it here (and I know Jim will try), but it's a bit of a long shot. We know that lots of other Army wives have given birth without their spouses, and I'm particularly inspired by my friends who've done just that. (Way to go, Sarah! Sophie's such a doll!) My family has been great, too, and have generously offered to fly out to be here for however long Kathleen and the baby and I need them. (I'll let you know if you need to start forwarding my mother's mail here!)

On Monday Kathleen and I were asked if we'd be willing to be interviewed by the press about the extension. Having worked for public affairs, I know it can be difficult to drum up people who are willing, so we said yes. We were interviewed, along with three other families, by a variety of news outlets. Most were local television crews, and friends tell us we did, in fact, appear on a couple local news channels. We were also interviewed by a reporter from the Associated Press. Her story appears here, among other places. She also took the photos of Kathleen that we've posted here, which we found on Yahoo! News.

AP Photo/Carol Cunningham (Photo and original caption here.)

AP Photo/ Carol Cunningham (Photo and original caption here.)

So, there you have it: Kathleen's media debut. Fifteen months old and she's already chipping away at her fifteen minutes of fame!

Sweet Moments and Sweet Dreams

I know it seems a little odd, but bedtime is one of my favorite times with Kathleen. That's not because it's the prelude to the few quiet, calm hours in our household, the time I actually have for myself. It's because there's something so sweet and tender about the bedtime rituals.

After dinner Kathleen (most nights, at least) takes a bath and, once she's moved the requisite amount of water from the bathtub to the bathroom floor, we pick up the bath toys and get ready for bed. We zip Kathleen up into her pajamas, and then she sets off to collect her Aloha and George (stuffed dog and monkey) from wherever they've been deposited, while I measure out a bottle of milk and heat it in the microwave. Once that's done, we settle ourselves into the rocking chair in her bedroom and turn out the lights. While Kathleen drinks her bottle, I sing her a lullaby. It's a hymn I learned in college, which we used to close our choir rehearsals. It was a favorite of mine then, and it's even dearer to me now that I sing it to my daughter each night. The tune is traditional -- most people know it from the lullaby "All Through the Night."

Day is done, but love unfailing dwells ever here.
Shadows fall, but hope prevailing calms every fear.
Loving Father none forsaking, take our hearts of Love's own making
Watch our sleeping, guard our waking, be always near.

Dark descends, but light unending shines through the night.
You are with us ever lending new strength to sight
One in love Your truth confessing, one in hope of heaven's blessing
May we see in love's possessing, Love's endless light.

Eyes will close, but You unsleeping watch by our side.
Death may come in love's safe-keeping, still we abide.
God of Love all evil quelling, sin forgiving, fear dispelling,
Stay with us, our hearts in-dwelling this eventide.

When I finish singing, Kathleen and I pray together, and then with a few more hugs and kisses, "sweet dreams" and "I love you's," I set her down in her crib. She tucks her stuffed animals into her arms and curls up around them and settles in for the night. I'm all too aware that one day soon she'll decide she's too big for a bottle, or too big for a lullaby, or too big to snuggle in the rocking chair, her head in the crook of my arm, her cheek against my chest. Perhaps that's why I love the nighttime rituals so much... because I know they're fleeting.

There's No Stopping Kathleen!

Go!
Originally uploaded by the golbys.

We've been visiting the park a lot lately, and I snapped this photo (among others) on a recent trip. Kathleen's a great climber (up ONLY, down is another story) but her real passion is sliding. She'll walk right up to the edge of the slide, making me nervous that she'll tumble down head first. Then -- at the last possible moment -- she'll sit and slide her way down. Our camera isn't really fast enough to get "good" pictures of her sliding, but you can tell she's enjoying herself, even with the blur!